Jurisdictional disputes in the motion-picture Industry : hearings before a special subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Eightieth Congress, first-session, pursuant to H. Res. 111 (1948)

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1438 MOTION-PICTURE JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES Again I will say this: It is up to our members and their employers, but we do not discourage that. In fact, we encourage it, if there was a misunderstanding as to the agreement entered into, the interpreta- tion. If they cannot agree as to what it means, they call in an arbi- trator. Mr. Owens. It is certainly apparent if something is not done you are going to have economic forces operating all the time and the work- men and the public are going to be the main losers. We try to do the best thing without going too far in the law, by providing an injunc- tion, if necessary, against a jurisdictional strike. Mr. HuTCHESON. How would you enforce it ( Mr. Owens. You mean, how would an injunction be enforced? ]Mr. HuTCHESON. Yes. Mr. Owens. By a court order. Mr. HuTCHESON. What does a court order mean? I am just ask- ing for information so I will know what to tell our folks. Mr. Owens. A court order would break up the picket line, that is all. That is the only thing they could do, if it were a jurisdictional strike. Surely, you do not have any sympathy with jurisdictional strikes, do you? Mr. HuTCPiESON. We do not have any trouble? ]\rr, Owens. No. You do not have' any sympatliy with them ? You believe that they are right and proper? Mr. Hutcheson. I do to this extent, that when someone takes the time to learn a trade, as you did, I suppose, take time to learn the law so that you could be admitted to the bar and practice as a lawyer, you chose that as your profession. Now, then, we have many a j^oung man who chooses or decides to become a carpenter. At the present time we have between thirty-five and thirty-seven thousand young men working as apprentices learning to be carpenters. Now, after they spend that much time acquiring ability, knowledge, an dtraining to be a carpenter, don't you think they are justified in rejecting and objecting to someone coming along and saying, "That is our work, we are going to do that," who never had been a carpenter? Don't you think the carpenters have just as much a right to defend their avocation in life as attorneys, doctors, or somebody else? iNIr. Owexs. There is no question about it. Mr. Hutcheson. Well, you agree with me, then; thank God for that. Mr. Owens. But the point is this Mr. Hutcheson. JNIaybe we could do some teamwork here yet. ]Mr. Owens. The point is this, if the lawyers were to say that the jurisdictional strife was causing a loss to the workers or the public Mr. Hutcheson. Let me ask you a question: What has the general public lost in the way of dollars and cents in the Hollywood con- troversy ? Mr. Owexs. I don't know about that, but I do know this, Mr. Hutcheson, in the last 6 months or the last year, because strikes de- creased to one-fifth of what they were the preceding year, the esti- mated national income was about fifteen to twenty billion dollars more as a result of that lessened number of strikes. I think that is mighty important for the country when a thing like that takes place.